Amnesty International urges regulatory authorities to address oil pollution in Niger Delta

Amnesty International has called on relevant authorities to pay attention to oil pollution in the Niger Delta.

Isa Sanusi, Amnesty International’s country director, Nigeria, said this on Thursday at a human rights media parley.

“The situation in the Niger Delta is getting worse and no one is paying attention. The clean-up of Ogoni land seems to be leading to a failure,” he said. 

“Shell is planning to sell its assets and divest from Nigeria, apparently to evade decades of responsibility for decades of oil pollution and exploitation.” 

On his part, Auwal Rafsanjani, board chairman, Amnesty International Nigeria, said there are some human rights abuses that have happened in recent times in Nigeria but got poor reportage. 

“This gives rise to the need for Amnesty International and journalists and media practitioners to synergise to continue to advance the noble goals of human rights and justice in Nigeria,” Rafsanjani said.

Rafsanjani said Amnesty International intends to partner with the media in Nigeria to adequately document, report, and expose violators and abusers of human rights, and to seek redress for victims.

He said the organisation is hopeful that the media will give the identified gaps the required media coverage to ensure that human rights continue to be propagated in Nigeria.